Ramblings about knitting, life, exploits, and other things.

November 27, 2006

In which Pampering Efforts feel like Boot camp.

So...As you know, I'm doing this diet thing.And to help me along, I've joined a group of crazy gals my age who are full of spunk and sass, all of whom are trying to lose weight too.

Periodically, we issue challenges to each other. Mostly though, our fearless leader, who goes by the moniker KinkyBoots (see, I told you she was fearless), challenges the rest of us. This month is no different. Well... Actually, it is a LITTLE different.

Last month, we all tried to do a bunch of healthy things EVERY day -- like eating three servings of fruit and three of vegetables, and drinking water, and exercising, and getting enough sleep. This month, she's decided that it's time we REALLY took care of ourselves! For the next week (or until she runs out of ideas), she's posing a daily challenge that includes a Pampering element.

I'm thinking this is a good thing.... Today is day one. As with all challenges, it has some health driven rules:

How hard can this be? Funny you should ask.First of all, the bath has rules: 1) you must spread candles around the bathroom to create soft inviting light; 2) you must find a way to get soothing music into the bathroom; 3) you must have 20 uninterrupted minutes in the tub (yep... even those of us with kidlets and husbands and cats and...) ahem. 4) with a beverage of your choice (well, almost, no soda or booze), and 5) reading material of your choice -- which means either LOTS of candles, or some alternate lighting. After the 20 minute wallow in nice hot water (taken, btw, between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. local time, we were to wrap ourselves in fluffy towels, pat ourselves dry (do not rub), and then moisturize ourselves with lotion, not skipping feet or hands or face... and then take our books to bed to read in a lovely mellow haze until we fell asleep.

Doesn't that sound wonderful?

I signed up for that pronto!

So... this evening, having failed to eat my five portions of fruit because on another challenge I'm trying to do, I'm trying to balance the ratio of fat/protein/carbs I eat every day, and as usual, I'm low on fats at the end of the day. If I meet this one's fruit guidelines, I wholly throw the balance out of whack; So, I had 3 portions, but not five (partly b/c I forgot) ... unless tomatoes count as fruit here??

So, I got all ready.
I set up my candles and my music and my water to drink, and turned on the hot water in the tub. I let that run awhile, and then added cold after it was about 2/3 full. And

Ran out of hot water.

hmph. Fine. says I. I'll just shut it all off and take a shallow bath....

but Nooooooooo

-- the cold water wouldn't turn off!

Undaunted, I climbed in, and put my foot on the cold spigot handle for awhile in the hopes that I could persuade it to stop, and/or that I could relax that way.

But the water wasn't really hot enough when I got in, so it cooled too fast, and then I was cold, but still fighting the cold tap, so it stopped being relaxing at all.
I got out, almost certainly before the allotted 20 minutes, and wrapped myself in my towel and huddled there for a minute, wondering how something so good could go so bad.

I drained the tub, propped something against the cold tap to keep it to a low trickle, and went for the lotion. It, of course, was also cold. (See me TRYING to follow the guidelines here? this is pampering??? this is more like boot camp!).

And when I went to wash my face before applying face lotion to it... I found that THAT tap, yeah the one barely five feet from the one in the tub, that tap... it has plenty o' hot water.

I'm thinking a plumber will be visiting before I next bathe in THAT tub. (grumble grumble, it's the one in the master bath that's big enough for two, and has the jacuzzi jets).
But I really tried.

Now, I'm going to BED with my BOOK and a candle, and I'm going to wrap myself up all warm and cozy and forget the cold part, and remember the alone with my candles and music and book part.

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I gave up on baths years ago. Just when you get lulled into a state of semi-relaxation (and your library book gets wet no matter how careful you are), there is bound to be a crisis that absolutely requires your assistance on the other side of the door. A phone call, a crying child, or your husband can't find the ice cream scoop.